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Our Citizen Legislature

by: Dean Barker

Thu May 14, 2009 at 05:55:23 AM EDT
McClatchy:
Newly elected state Rep. Clinton Bailey has apologized to the voters of Londonderry for a poor attendance record during his first several months in office and promised to improve his performance for the remainder of his term.

Bailey has attended just two of 12 voting sessions this term and participated in just 7 of 130 (5.4 percent) of the votes cast. Bailey is currently attending the University of New Hampshire for his Master's degree in business and he blamed his poor voting record in the Legislature on a burdensome school schedule.

"I definitely apologize to my constituents," said Bailey, a 22-year-old Republican. "Once I get done school ( later this month) I will definitely be giving 110 percent to my job in the Legislature."

There have been absentee issues on both sides, but this is ridiculous.

A more generous interpretation is that the lad has a poor sense of organization.  A less generous one suggests he thought the title might make good resume padding.

I mean, really: I thought of running for Rep for my town last cycle, but I took one look at my teaching profession (at least in its curent iteration) and the public service I would be undertaking, and decided that my type of day-job set schedule citizenship basically bars me from being in our citizen legislature.  That took about 10 minutes to figure out.

And a pet peeve: boy do I cringe whenever I hear people promising to give more than 100% of their effort to something. A meaningless idiom that ends up detracting from the earnestness of the statement it's in, imo.
Dean Barker :: Our Citizen Legislature
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Our Citizen Legislature | 9 comments
The couple of students (4.00 / 4)
I knew that used to be in the legislature had much better attendance and never, ever blamed school for anything. It must be because they were young, irresponsible undergraduates or something.
there are several other students now (4.00 / 2)
Bailey is not the only student in the General Court.  The others all have excellent attendance records.  
[ Parent ]
Oh, for sure (0.00 / 0)
I'm just not as acquainted with them.
[ Parent ]
UL editorial today (4.00 / 3)
on this very subject. The editorial singles-out a Democratic rep, of course, but the principle that our elected officials are elected to serve, and not merely to have titles, appears to be a principle progressives and conservatives can agree on.

Public service is not a left/right issue. Citizens deserve representation from their fellow citizen legislators.

President, NH Young Democrats

GIVE ME A BREAK!! (4.00 / 3)
This story really irritates me, I was first elected to the NH House in 1996 when I was 22. I seem to recall having 100% attendance while an undergrad...and more to Rep. Bailey's excuses.

I currently: work full time, serve as a committee chairman (all be it not the busiest committee in the House), serve as chairman of my county delegation, and attend Graduate School at UNH as well. Somehow I manage to attend chairman's meetings, chapter study committee meetings, committee meetings and house sessions! This excuse is nothing but BS! Perhaps my young colleague should re-evaluate his time/priorities. He certainly had time to pick up his legislative license plates! pathetic!

[ Parent ]
Not to beat a dead horse, but... (0.00 / 0)
A friend asked me the other day why I was upset enought to post what I did here recently. The aswer is simple. I don't care what party Rep. Bailey belongs to, by his careless disregard to his responsibilities as a State Rep he makes all young people that want to get involved look bad. When I was first elected I was told by senior members that the spotlight was on me and my fellow young reps because people will expect us to fail. We needed to show up and be involved to prove them wrong. Unfortunately, Rep. Bailey didn't get that memo. There are other young members from both parties that show up and work hard. For instance, Rep. Bettencourt and I are on opposite sides of almost everything, but I respect DJ for his committment to his princeples and his constiuents by showing up and working hard on their behalf. Scott Merrick served as an assistant floor whip and attended Tufts, and somehow managed to attend House sessions!John Ward went to UNH, served on the Education committee and made it to House sessions. Andy Edwards and Jeff Fontas worked their tails off to prove themselves while members of the House! Jessica Densmore attended Smith, and somehow managed to make it to Concord. Bobby Rodrigue attended Keene State and taught drivers ed, and still managed to make it to Concord. Brendon Browne went to Law School, graduated with high marks and still managed to come to Concord and he serves on the Judiciary Committee! No one is expected to be in Concord 100% of the time. We all have lives and things come up. But to flagrantly not bother to show up 95% of the time makes all young reps that are trying to make a differnce look bad! If those of us that are young (I still qualify as a YD for a few more weeks!)we need to always work harder than our more aged friends and colleagues. that is the point. Not political. I'm sure Rep. Bailey is a great guy...but he's screwing it up for the rest of us!
Sorry for the rant, but I though I'd better explain myself.
[ Parent ]
I'm okay (4.00 / 1)
with Clinton Bailey's poor attendance. More Republicans should strive to emulate this young man.  
Mike Farley (4.00 / 1)
Mike Farley is my State Representative. He also won his re-election against me in 2008. Personally, I like Mike. A matter of fact I get along with all the reps from my ward. I don't agree with them on most issues but I think there is a mutual respect. Here is my problem though. While campaigning to regain my seat, I ran into Mike on the trail. At the time I was contemplating taking a shot at his absentee record during the campaign; so I took the opportunity to ask Mike about it. He told me things had changed and he wouldn't be an absentee rep. I decided not to go after him. Fast forward to today, he has a worse attendance record than he had two years ago. I think you owe it to your constituents to be there for them. Mike Farley should resign not because I want to run (haven't decided that) but because the residents from Manchester's Ward 8 deserve representation in Concord.
Definitely. (4.00 / 4)
I wasn't in the sinking ship of a minority party that this guy is in but there was never a question as to the seriousness of the commitment I'd made by choosing to run.  The State House came first.  I took time off to serve in the legislature and as a result will not be graduating with my class tomorrow.

That said, I don't know that this was best for me personally, and I certainly don't agree that we attract the best public servants by maintaining an all-volunteer, citizen legislature.  What upsets me  most about the Rep. Baileys is that they leave more of the decisionmaking power in the hands of a few individuals in a state legislature this was clearly not the intended design.

It's time we steer by the stars, and not the lights of every passing ship

Our Citizen Legislature | 9 comments
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